


Long is the Way and Hard

by gloriouswhisperstyphoon



Series: some dread vision, seen by night [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, F/M, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 00:59:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16776460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriouswhisperstyphoon/pseuds/gloriouswhisperstyphoon
Summary: Maybe it was always meant to end this way.A love story (that might also be a tragedy) in seven parts, told in reverse.





	Long is the Way and Hard

6\. Maybe they were never supposed to work out.

Maybe it was always meant to end this way. 

  
5\. It ends like this.

_ “This is what living feels like.” _

_ “This is what we get, then, for trying to make it work.” _

And then nothing, just the crushing weight of darkness and water and fire and then it’s in his veins and he can’t keep going but he has to and -

Maybe it was always going to end this way. Elektra Natchios will always be dragging him into the darkness with her, his own blood dripping from the prongs of her sai and trying to pry the Devil in him loose. And in return, he’ll always be the one dragging her into the light, trying to show her that it’s always been there for her. 

But maybe they were always doomed.

There’s not much more to think as the building rumbles around them and her arms are around him and her lips are soft on his -

And then there’s just the darkness around him.

As silent as the grave. 

  
4\. Midland Circle is colder than anything he’s ever experienced before and that’s saying a lot. Jessica Jones is glaring from her place next to him and her camera lies in pieces on the floor. That’s not what’s got his attention though.

Something crashes in the penthouse above him.

Matt can feel the Devil in his chest start to loosen and whisper in his ear. 

It’s instinct that tells him to grab Jessica’s scarf and tie it around his face, the scratchiness of the wool almost distracting in comparison to his old suit. 

It doesn’t matter.

The tension that’s been there since Elektra is fading and all he can hear is the fight breaking out upstairs. 

There’s the loud thwack of bullets making contact with something unbreakable and he starts to run fast up the stairs as the noise of the fight just gets louder and the door bursts open in front of him. 

He doesn’t need to think about anything.

These people are the Hand.

The same people that took Elektra from him, and he’s going to destroy them, root and stem. 

He fights his way through the building, working somewhat like a team with the other people around him and he tries to avoid the thought of what happened the last time he worked with someone else. 

Until he’s standing there, in a corridor filled with sharp lines and bodies on the ground and he can hear a tinny voice over the radio. 

_ “Evacuate. Release the Black Sky to clean it up.” _

He doesn’t understand what’s going on any more than the rest, but he hears the heavy thuds of footsteps behind him and something just before him.

He can’t hear a heartbeat and the Devil claws at his chest, begging to be let out. 

Matt sniffs the air, trying to work out a clue as to the Hand’s new weapon. 

It smells like orchids and death. His heart skips a beat - despite everything that’s happened, he’s still got one. 

He closes his eyes and runs towards it. 

  
3\. Matt closes his eyes as he runs his fingers over the letters etched into Elektra Natchios’ headstone, trying not to think of the woman he loved as just worm food beneath the ground.

His senses don’t work as well here. It’s not the concrete jungle of New York that he loves and can't live without, it’s just a huge stretch of death and nothing around him. But that’s not what’s important for him right now. 

_ What happened to them? _

Something that sounds a lot like Elektra’s voice whispers back to him.  _ You didn’t know me, you fell in love with me and now you know me. _

Figures. 

They never spoke enough when she was alive and now? There’s all the time in the world to just  _ think _ , especially now, as he sits in the wreckage of his life. 

A bell tolls in the distance and he can hear the far-off voices of a choir. 

_ Kyrie eleison. _

_ Kyrie eleison. _

Lord have mercy.

But on the dead or on the living that are left behind?

His rosary feels like a lead weight in his pocket and he touches it for a moment. Matt sighs deeply, before resting his hand on the stone one more time. He leans heavily on his cane, standing up in front of her grave. 

His father always said that what made the Murdock boys was their ability to get back up after a fight. Matthew Murdock gets up.

  
  
  
2\. Matt’s always seen the world in red. Red flames, red blood dripping down the sides of the skyscrapers and buildings of Hell’s Kitchen - Elektra was all of that at more, and now there’s red sticky blood all over what he knows to be his red suit, as she’s heavy in his arms and then -

_ “I know now. I know now what it means to be good,” _

Her voice is higher and threadier than anything he’s ever heard before and her heartbeat flutters like that of a terrified rabbit. And then. 

She’s still.

There’s nothing more. 

Just beyond him, he can hear the sound of something metal clattering to the ground and the harsh hiss of swords being unsheathed. 

Nobu’s still standing there and so are his men.

His world on fire narrows down to just that. 

His fists ache beautifully as he pummels his way through those that remain.

The sharp hiss of a bullet rushes past him, before making sharp contact with one of the ninjas. 

Good. 

One down. 

Another bullet rings out and he barely cares anymore.

The only person he wants is in front of him. 

He can hardly register the feeling of Nobu’s fist against his face.

His billy club is cold in his hand and the string digs into his hand. 

Nobu’s breath barely changes, but he can’t care. 

The Devil demands to be let out and he allows it to. 

Matt Murdock doesn’t know what’s happened until the weight of Nobu dangling off the end of his club starts to weigh down on his hand.

It’s the easiest thing in the world for the Devil to just disconnect the end and let him fall. 

His breath comes out heavy and jagged and it’s the only thing he can hear on the rooftop. 

  
  
  
  


1.The rain is pouring off his face and he can’t keep the smile off it. Downstairs, he can hear the clicking of Karen’s heels as she walks home.

_ The raindrop trickles down her arm, and Matt can hear the goosebumps that prickle down in its wake.  _

_ Her hand is soft against his face and he tries to focus just on this moment. _

Matt shakes his head, bringing himself back into the moment. 

He’s not listening closely, but he can almost imagine that there’s a lightness and a skip in her step that wasn’t there a few moments ago.

Or was it?

He’s starting to lose his touch and he chuckles lightly to himself. 

He can almost imagine the impossible happening. 

A happy Catholic boy? Impossible. 

He shakes his head again, putting his key into the lock.

The door creaks as he pushes it open and a wave of perfume hits his nose. 

It’s deeply familiar, and yet deeply exotic all at once.

_ Orchids _ .

A woman’s voice emerges from the darkness, humour and violence all hidden beneath the surface. Just like before, it promises nothing but hellfire and damnation. He’s never been more in love. 

“Hello, Matthew."

  
  
  


0\. This is how it starts.

He’s walking down a corridor, no end in sight and then he hears it. 

The clinking of bracelets at a party that he doesn’t belong at and isn’t even supposed to be at, followed by the sound of a woman’s finger on the rim of a martini glass. 

“He’s with me,” her voice rings out, before she takes another sip. “Elektra Natchios,” she says, holding out a hand covered with coarse calluses from what feels like a sword. 

Inside him, something sparks and catches alight. 

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to hastypixels over on discord for the beta help.
> 
> The title is from John Milton's Paradise Lost. The full quote is "long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.


End file.
